at the firm and was never part of that decision making. a bain representative said at that due to romney's sudden departure in 1999 it took time to transfer his ownership to successors. the obama campaign pounced on the story calling it the "big bain lie." obama deputy campaign manager, stephanie cutter, charged that he may have even engaged in illegal activity by misrepresenting his position at bain to the s.e.c. a romney representative called the administration a "new low" for the obama campaign. the press secretary talked romney's time at bain capital. he said romney doesn't want voters to know he outsourced jobs overseas. >> he claims credit for jobs

created to date but wouldn't accept responsibility for transactions a he was involved with with companies that shipped jobs overseas and went bankrupt with workers losing their jobs and health care benefits. >> each night veteran talk host ed schultz and his guests debate and talk the most important matters affecting americans. be sure to watch "the ed show." >> former vice president dick cheney held a big fund-raiser for mitt romney's campaign, collecting more than $4 million from the dinner at cheney's house. cheney has not appeared with romney on the campaign trail but endorsed him last night, praising romney as "the only man who can make the right decisions in a foreign policy crisis." romney called cheney a great american leader but did not mention former president george

w. bush. pent state officials concealed critical facts instead of protecting young boys. that's the scathing conclusion of an eight-month inquiry into the jerry sandusky scandal. >> reporter: former fbi director louis freeh said it was fear of bad publicity which kept officials from revealing details to the public regarding jerry sandusky's contact with young boys. >> the most powerful men at penn state failed to take any steps for 14 years to protect the children sandusky victimized. >> reporter: the report pored over documents. freeh blasted former president graham spanier, athletic director tim curly, vice president gary schultz and paterno for l inaction. >> nobody even spoke to

sandusky. not one of those four persons, including the coach, who was a few steps away from his office. there's no end case anybody spoke to him. >> reporter: throughout the investigation all have denied knowing the full extent of sandusky's actions up. >> should know our hearts remain heavy and we are deeply ashamed. >> reporter: on campus thursday, a dark day and disblae. >> i'm disappointed that the leaders of our institution could let something like this happen. >> and now here is your first look at some of the other news going on around america today. in judicial, this is frightening video. it show as car crash caused by someone running a red right. can you see that car going a born. police want you to see these images to drive home the risk of reckless behavior.

amazingly there were no serious injuries but the driver was arrested for dui. in st. louis, this was the result after crews went to check out a complaint of gas order. it was after that they started digging and a pipe collapsed causing flames to shoot 40 feet into the air. in california, surfing is never a bad idea, even if you're a bad idea. it's even more fun for this billy goal and his mother to surf together. he has a goat as a pet. that's a headline, too. and finally, in rhode island, you are seeing double. a two-headed kitten was born as the on part of a litter with four eyes, two noses and two mouths feeding into one throat. the local spca has never seen anything like it. we haven't either. it's not sure if they're dealing

with one cat or conjoined twins. i said kind of cute. bill, i don't know if you're sold on that. for the weather i say bill -- >> you say cute to freakishly adorable. are we flip-flopping here? >> we're starting this morning off rather quiet. temperatures are very warm. everyone is in the 70s for the most part across much of the country. we are watching 78 in san antonio, 76 in minneapolis. it's another mild july start to the day. we will see areas of rain today. we desperately need it. the new drought report came in yesterday. the drought continues to expand across the country and continues to get across from missouri to illinois to eindiana.

this morning a soaking rain and a few storms and minneapolis. the humid air is going to be the story. it's been a very dry period. i'm sure you noticed it, very comfortable going outside from the great lakes to new england. that's going to come toed and as a humid air comes the east coast. with it rainfall chances. rain from lexington to charleston, west virginia. it's another dry day from the midwest, cleveland, detroit, boston, new york. another beautiful day. best chance of rainfall through the southeast. i'll bring you the weekend forecast shortly. it will add rain chances to those that did need it. >> thank you. coming up, texas industries a jinx and one last cup of joe for the road. >> coming up, an impressive start for usa basketball and the olympics are over before they even start for one member of the

dream team. you're watching "first look" on msnbc.

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welcome back to "first look," i'm lynn berry. syrian activists are reporting a new massacre of more than 100 people yesterday in central hama province. the "new york times" says there are reports of more than 200 killed. >> "the washington post" reports first lady michelle obama was allegedly a target of a threat by a police officer in the district of columbia. he allegedly said he would shoot the first lady and use his phone to retrieve a picture of the firearm he would use. >> secretary of state hillary clinton urging talks on the south china sea. he urged talks over conflicting claims for the strategic water way. >> in france the search for missing claimers continues on

mount blanc after an avalanche yesterday that killed nine. a dozen others were injured and four are unaccounted for. >> and in australia an extremely rare pink diamond is now on display at the mel bourne museum. the argyle pink jubilee is more than 8 carats and it's the largest ever found in australia. here's your first look at this morning's dish of "scrambled politics." "the washington times" points out vice president's biden was billed as campaign speech and there on the podium was the president's seal. the administration has said the seal would not be used. >> and harry reid on u.s. olympic uniforms being made in china. heap said the u.s. olympic committee should be ashamed of themselves and said they sudden

put them in a pile and burn them. >> politico reports massachusetts democratic senate candidate elizabeth warren celebrated her wedding anniversary yesterday and so did her opponent republican senator scott brown. of course they married different people six years apart. >> the "national journal" reports female staffers on capitol hill make thousands less than their male counterparts. women who work for house republicans make more than $10,000 less. >> and this just can't be true. the huffington post points out house leaders have scheduled only 41 more working days between now and the end of the year to deal with all the issues still left undone, including the bush era expiring taxing cuts and spending cuts. >> and maine senator susan

collins cast consecutive vote number 5,000. and even arranging her wedding to keep her streak alive. and that is your dish of "scrambled politics." now here's your first look at how wall street will kick off the day. the opens at 12,573 after fall 3g 1 yesterday. taking a look at overseas trading this morning, in tokyo, the nikkei added 4 points while the hang seng was up 67. >> a rorl coaster thursday left stocks down for a sixth day with two big blue chips prevented the dow from falling harder. procter & gamble rose on a report thats ackman -- >> tech sales continued after a

warning of sluggish sales, plunging 11%. texas industries broke a ten-quarter streak of losses, posting a quarterly profit and surging 13%. upbeat data didn't dent general's gloom over sluggish earnings. initial state unemployment claims dropped to the lowest level in four years. falling oil costs sent june's import prices falling by the most in more than three years. moody's downgraded italy's bond rating by two notches, just above junk status. further down grades could be on the way. wells fargo will pay $175 million to resolve allegations it chaeds and hispanics high rates and fees on mortgages during the housing boom. a government investigation found 34,000 times wells fargo charged blacks higher fees and rates similar to white borrowerers. but the bank denied guilt insisting it was settling solely

for the purr of avoiding contested litigation. >> the smoking gun report the fbi is investigating the chinese company zte for banned computer equipment sales to iran and alleged attempts to cover it up. and finally, they seem to be everywhere but we have not seen them here yet. next month a starbucks will open at a south carolina funeral home. hmm. coming up, the new kid gets his welcome and a little road rash can't stop one cyclist at the tour de france. despite losing another player on their roster, team usa remains unshaken. your first look at sports is straight ahead. you're watching "first look" on msnbc. sometimes, we go for a ride in the park. maybe do a little sightseeing. or, get some fresh air. but this summer, we used our thank youpoints to just hang out

with a few friends in london. [ male announcer ] the citi thankyou visa card. redeem the points you've earned to travel with no restrictions. rewarding you, every step of the way.

welcome back to "first look." in sports last night, an olympic tuneup. here's fred roggin. >> if last night's game was any indication, you can give the u.s. the gold medal right now. team usa got off to a slow start against the dominican republic but then found their stride. doesn't look like kchemistry wil be a problem for these two. something tells me it going to be a fun team to watch. check out the inbounds pass by

lebron. behind-the-back bounce pass to williams. at times they looked more like the globetrotters than an olympic team but unlike the globetrotters, these guys play defense. look at the bench. like a bunch of kids at the playground. the usa is ready for london. they won it big, 113-59. >> blake griffin tore the meniscus in his left knee yesterday. he'll have surgery next week and be out two months. anthony davis will take his spot on the roster. jason kidd won two gold medals with team usa. he's the newest member of the knicks. new york is expected to resign jeremy lin in a couple days. stage 11 tour de france, that is pierre rolland, run in the front of the pack until he went down hard on the pavement the other riders left him in the dust. he was okay and have a lot of

ground to make up. lesson be learned, he came back, all the way back, took the lead on the final climb and won the stage. but but never out hereby rallied for an impressive win on the tour. that's your first look at sports. i'm fred roggin. >> and for another look at the weather, here is bill karins, he has the weekend forecast, our favorite one. >> tour de france highlights. it's very slow sports this week. the weekend forecast coming up. this morning a little different forecast. washington, d.c., much of virginia, maryland, pennsylvania, jersey, you're going to wake up to a lot more cloud than you've seen lately. the best chance of showers over west virginia, pittsburgh. d.c., you'll have more cloud today than sun. in new england, you'll have more sunshine. it will be even warmer there. scattered storms in the southeast. the forecast isn't much different today than it was yesterday the only thing that really

changes, by sunday we'll have a pretty good chance of thunderstorms southern new england, new york city area which haven't had rain in about a week also. >> who is definitely leaving "american idol", who is drawing it out and the top earning entertainer under 30. plus we'll tell you what new film is set to end the quick reign of spider-man at the box office. you're watching "first look" on msnbc. yeah, we found that wonderful thing. and you smiled. and threw it. and i decided i would never, ever leave it anywhere. because that wonderful, bouncy, roll-around thing... had made you play. and that... had made you smile. [ announcer ] beneful. play. it's good for you.

there's sports news and a new interview of kobe bryant that said this year's olympic

basketball team could beat the ' '992 dream team. of course they could. the guys from the '92 dream team a are 50 years old. >> reports that a mailman robbed two banks in ten minutes. they knew it wasn't a mailman because he made it to two places in ten minutes. >> that's "late night with jimmy falon." it's time for entertainment news. steven tyler announced he's going to kick himself off "american idol." >> he'll be missed. >> he will. he called the show over-the-top fun and referred to idol as his mistress. now he said he wants to concentrate on his band saying i strayed from my first love, aerosmith, and now i'm back. meanwhile yesterday on the

"today" show in what "the washington post" called her, quote, latest stop on it's so hard to decide whether to stop the american idol show tour reported that she might be back to american idol. and taylor swift beat out justin bieber for the forbes spot for the highest ranking celebrity. swift earned $54 million to bieber's 5. and "ice age: continental drift" is expected to take the top spot with at least $50 million. >> it's a breather weekend. >> so "american idol" without

steven tyler, maybe without jennifer lopez, are you still going to watch? do you still watch? >> i didn't. i stopped about four years ago. they'll bring in new celebrity judges. >> i'm lynn berry. stay tuned. "way to early with willie geist" starts right now. confusion on the campaign trail as new documents show romney didn't quite leave bain capital as early as he said he did. at least not on paper, providing further ammunition for the obama tacks. the questi is could romney's business record once his greatest asset turn into his biggest liability? the truth comes to light at penn state as an internal investigation reveals in horrifying detail just how far coach joe paterno and figures were willing to go to cover up jerry sandusky's crimes against

young boys. what can be done to make sure an incident like this never happens again? and finally, vice president joe biden gives a rousing speech at the naacp calling into question the republicans' commit to civil rights in front of the same crowd that booed mitt romney yesterday. account obama/bide i don't know ticket inspire the same turnout amongst african-americans as it did in 2008? it's "way too early" for this. good morning, i'm jonathan capehart in for the vacations willie geist. i'm glad you're up with us this morning watching on msnbc or listening live. shoot me an e-mail at waytooearly@msnbc.com and let me know why you're awake right now. or you can do what romney's swiss banker does and text the

word awake followed by your response at 622639. the next 30 minutes will be your cram session. there will be a lot going on today including new details out of syria where activists claim as many as 200 were killed by government forces. we'll have an exclusive report that takes us inside the massacre. >> -- >> that's it! >> further evidence that we need a parliamentary system here in the united states, at the very least for entertainment purposes. we'll explain what she was getting really excited about later in the show. but first, let's get to the news live at 5:30 a.m. here at 30 rock in new york city. >> mitt romney travels to nevada today to cam pan alongside one of his toughest opponents from the republican primary, texas governor rick